9 Days Of Worship

September 7, 2008 (Sunday)
Attended Holy Mass. Yes, the Holy Mass, formally called the Eucharistic Celebration, is the highest form of Catholic worship. That weekend, I served as a cantor for the Mass - yep, our cantor team (led by Andre) were singing.

September 8, 2008 (Monday)
Cantor's practice. Every Monday we practise songs that are to be used during the coming Mass(es). By training our voice and musical talents and offer it up to God during Mass, it is indeed a form of worship - to show the worthship of God by giving the give He has entrusted us back to God for the building of His kingdom, and to be God's instrument to minister to His people through His songs.

September 9, 2008 (Tuesday)
A session of intercession of worship. Enough said (some privacy for myself).

September 10, 2008 (Wednesday)
A session of general intercession of worship. We prayed for various areas within Shalom Working Youth Fellowship, as well as for the church and country. The whole session lasted for almost 3 hours. Worship and intercession were great. Felt energetic and empowered by God throughout the session, but was dead tired after that.

September 11, 2008 (Thursday)
Went to IC Shalom in Church of the Immaculate Conception, Pulau Tikus. Praise and worship was good. The sharing given by Andre is about "Sent by Christ the Word", where he broke the word in the Gospel passage about the man possessed by Legion. He compared Legion (multitude of evil spirits possessing the man) with the many hurts or Chaos that we humans collected through time, and how Jesus the Christ come to cast out the spirits/heal our hurts, and how we as healed Christians are Called to testify the goodness of God. With an overtime, he ended the talk and proceeded with another sesion of worship and ministering. I could feel the strong (manifested) presence of God at the center of the church, and the ministering session touched a few individuals. I was helping in laying hands onto an elderly man, and I could not hold my hand still... the presence was strong!! During the same session I got to know the coordinator for IC Shalom - Glenn (Michelle's husband - I met Michelle during the Paradise Workshop and Concert).

September 12, 2008 (Friday)
As usual, Friday is Shalom Working Youth Fellowship night! We were having a great time worshiping. And, after worship, there was a session of ministering for married couples. This session was consistent with the burden that we felt during the intercessory meeting two days earlier (see above). I was moved to tears when one of the couples were being prayed over. During the sharing, Leoreen introduced the 5 languages of love (as written by Gary Chapman) - words of affirmation, quality time/moments, receiving gifts, acts of service, and physical touch. She explained that it was necessary for a person to not only know his/her own language of love, but also learn the language of the person that he/she loved.

September 13, 2008 (Saturday)
Meeting for Psalmistry ministry members (comprising of SWYF worship leaders, musicians, backup singers, backup dancers, and slide handlers). The word that was broken by Andre was on an Old Testament reading. It was about how Elisha focused on the God of his master Elijah, and how Elisha had his first-hand experience of the presence of the Lord when Elijah was being taken up to Heaven. He shared that we in the ministry need to have and dive into this first-hand experience in order for us to understand what we are doing and hence know how to testify to other SWYF members. The time of worship was indeed awesome! Although the awe initially came as my own response of diving into the worship, the awe of God's presence was strongly felt when we were broken into smaller groups of three. I could feel that Jesus was in our midst, and, as we were holding hands, I could envision the sign of heart/love being formed amongst our bound hands!

September 14, 2008 (Sunday)
Attended Holy Mass. Yep, time of the highest form of Catholic worship.

September 15, 2008 (Monday)
Attended the Mass for Peace and Justice. I was amazed that the number of people attending this Mass could be compared to normal Sunday Mass - the church was almost packed! Well, we had one common intention during the Mass - to celebrate the goodness of the Lord, to acknowledge His promise of the Beatitude, and to pray in one voice for the abolishment of the draconian ISA.

Nine consecutive days of worship! It was synonymous to a novena to the Holy Spirit! Amen!